Group looks to preserve North Portland's Baltimore Woods

View full sizeAndrew Burton, The OregonianBaltimore Woods, an area north of the St. Johns Bridge, is little more than a collection of overgrown railroad tracks, vines and trees. A neighborhood group, Friends of Baltimore Woods, is trying to protect and restore the area, hopefully using the land for the proposed North Portland Willamette Greenway trail. Baltimore Woods doesn't look like much to the casual passer-by. Just a little known tangle of vines, trees and litter covering 30 acres of steep sloping vacant lots that separate Cathedral Park neighborhood from Willamette River industry.

But Friends of Baltimore Woods -- a group of neighborhood activists committed to preserving this pocket of green -- sees it as an integral link to the peninsula's past and future.

Fortunately for the Friends, Metro shares its vision. The regional government has awarded the group and its partner, Three Rivers Land Conservancy, a $158,000 Nature in the Neighborhoods grant to help buy five of 12 privately owned lots.

"We could not be happier, because (that property) was slatted to be condos," said Friends president Barbara Quinn.

The goal is to protect and restore remaining groves of Oregon white oak between Cathedral Park and Pier Park, to create a natural buffer between the industrial area and neighboring houses along North Edison Street, and to preserve undeveloped green space for the proposed North Portland Willamette Greenway trail.

Most of the 30-acre stretch is currently off limits to the public. It runs below Decatur Street between Baltimore and Catlin avenues.

"There were a couple times when it seemed like it was all over for the woods," said Jim Barnas.

Barnas started Friends of Baltimore Woods about nine years ago, but it was his work as volunteer for the Greenway Trail Alignment Task Force that helped gain crucial momentum and outside attention the woods needed to survive.

Originally the Greenway trail was sited to run on the street along Edison, a block above Decatur and the woods. Barnas proposed an easement through the woods on Decatur as safer and more natural.

"Personally, the most exciting thing that happened was seeing 'Baltimore Woods' labeled on the trail reach map," he said.

The woods' white oak groves are the sole surviving piece of an oak and maple forest that once covered the peninsula. The land also includes the St. Johns area's two original homesteads: the James John and Loomis land claims.

"The most immediate challenge is getting the word out about the value of this land, " Quinn said. "Oregon oaks are native to the Willamette Valley, and they're disappearing."

Virginia Bowers, who is negotiating the land acquisitions for Three Rivers and the Friends, expects all the sales to be competed by the end of spring. "The properties aren't beautiful now, but they have a lot of potential," she said.

SOLV began restoration work in the fall on a section of the woods that was fire damaged in June 2009. It led a clean up to remove invasive plants and began replacing them with native plants.

"When I looked out my window and saw 25 strangers planting on my property, that was a very humbling experience," said Susan "Crunch" McDonald, who owns the property SOLV is restoring. McDonald is among a handful of owners along the woods who had no plans to develop their land.

The future of the woods remains uncertain, but neighbors are encouraged by the purchases.

"When I moved here 12 years ago, I just assumed it would all fill up with housing," McDonald said. "To have groups buying up properties to preserve them, I feel like I couldn't be any luckier."